# 14

# mission.

This is a fun activity that I did recently with middle school students. I can’t remember where I got this original idea. I do remember when I did the activity for the first time, and LOVING the idea behind it (I don’t want to give it away). It was a fun surprise that you only get the first time you do it. Make sure you set up the activity with enough time if you facilitate to students. Otherwise, they miss the fun of discovery.

Here are images of the ‘Now Introducing’ slides with examples. If you are doing this just for self-care, use a notebook. I continue to use this practice when I feel the need to reflect and get centered. I like the discovery of what character attributes I am attracting, or curious about.

*this activity is created to reflect and respond to the uplifting, life-giving, and positive influences that are relevant in your life as you are experiencing it in the now…not influences that are triggering or upsetting.

When I presented this activity to middle schoolers, I referred to it as a ‘self-branding’ exercise and connected it to social media. I challenged them to consider their values and what is meaningful to them as they get curious about ‘who am I’ and ‘how do I desire to show up and express myself’.

I use this activity often for reflection. You may use it to discover what you value. It’s interesting what you find of value in others is what you hold true to yourself, or what you desire more of for yourself. When I first began doing this, ‘confidence’ always came up. I recognized that I value, or am attracted to, confidence in others, yet it was something I was lacking. The activity helped me recognize that confidence was something to focus on growing. Introducing yourself as if you already hold all the attributes, allows you to create the story of you as if it is already happening.

Stephen Covey introduced the idea that what shows up, or what manifests in physical form, is always the second creation. We create in our minds first. This really makes sense when you get curious about it. You don’t just act and then something randomly appears..if you think about building a house or growing a garden (easy to see twice creation in these examples). The character attributes also capture the sensory experience which holds so much more when it comes to visualizing, and sensing the experience you hope to capture for yourself.

Here is the second part: mission statement.

This activity supported my mission statement that I have used for at least the last three years. With students, you may just use the activity as a brainstorm, and tease out a mission statement. One student raised his hand and asked me for help. He had written, ‘my parents getting a divorce’ for ‘what breaks my heart’. We considered the theme beneath parents splitting up, and came up with what breaks his heart is change, or when things change. What he loved was video games - play, a challenge. We didn’t come up with a mission statement as we ran out of time, but maybe it could have been something like: ‘James’ sees change as a challenge and uses his love of play to move toward it.’ Obviously, the statement needs to resonate with the human creating it - that’s the ultimate goal, to create a feeling statement - a statement that empowers.